1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to audio playback devices that provide background music, and more specifically to a device that provides background music interspersed with commercial messages for retail establishments.
2. Background Information
For many years, retail establishments have been using background music as a means to increase sales, provide a more pleasant shopping experience, stimulate customer loyalty and to encourage repeat visits by customers. In addition to the background music, many retail establishments also periodically broadcast commercial messages to promote products, advise customers of sales and special events, indicate hours of operation, and to thank customers for their patronage.
Typically the background music comes from a source such as a radio, cassette player or CD player. More sophisticated systems deliver music programs via cable or satellite hookup. Often commercial messages are interspersed with the background music by the use of a separate device. Rubin et al (U.S. Pat. No. 3,825,947), Seaton (U.S. Pat. No. 3,889,290), Curtis et al (U.S. Pat. No. 4,070,698) and Debell (U.S. Pat. No. 4,636,880) describe cassette tape devices of this nature. All of these known devices require custom-designed playback units with their own tape mechanisms. Such an approach is not very economical since such non-standard custom-designed devices are by nature quite costly. Furthermore, cost is further increased in that two separate devices are required, one to reproduce background music and one to intersperse the commercials.
Another aspect of the known devices is that these systems typically require user intervention to insure proper operation of the device. The user may be required to manually adjust the amount of time between commercial messages (Curtis et al, Debell, and Rubin), or to setup a background music source (Seaton, Curtis et al, Debell, and Rubin).
It would therefore be clearly advantageous to create a device that would allow the use of a single, off-the-shelf playback device to reproduce both music and commercial messages.
It would also be advantageous to create a system which employs a simple, reliable means to control the broadcast of music and commercials with minimal user intervention.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a background music controller which provides background music interspersed with commercial messages that uses a single, commercially available means of audio reproduction.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a background music/commercial message system that requires minimal user intervention to control the music, commercial content, and rate of interruption of the music.
It is yet another object of the present invention to enable the recorded media to control the music, commercial content and rate of interruption of the music.
It is still another object of the present invention to prevent playback of unauthorized media.
It is still a further object of the present invention to overcome the disadvantages of known background music systems.
In accordance with one form of the present invention, a background music controller provides background music interspersed with commercial messages by using an unmodified Compact Disc (CD) player loaded with custom discs. The custom discs provide the music and commercial content, and inform the controller of the rate at which the commercial messages should interrupt the music.
The controller reads audio tone codes recorded on one channel of the custom discs that provide control data, and controls the reproduction of monaural music or commercial messages recorded on the other channel of the custom disc. The CD player is controlled by sending remote control codes to the player via its remote input connector or, in the absence of such a connector, by sending the codes as infrared impulses to an infrared sensor on the player.
A further advantage of this approach is that unauthorized discs can be readily identified, allowing the device to prevent playback of unauthorized media.